Contract Parameters Research Articles

TRPM4 contribution in mouse uterine contractions.

Inappropriate uterine contractions are a matter of concern during pregnancy or menses. We identified the transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) ion channel as a new actor in mouse uterine contractions highlighting this protein as a potential pharmacological target for a better control of myometrial activity. Control of uterine contractions is of interest in the context of inappropriate myometrial activity during pregnancy and at time of delivery, but it is also a matter for menstrual pain. While several molecular determinants of myometrial contractions have been described, the complete distribution of roles to the various actors is far from understood. A key phenomenon is a variation in cytoplasmic Ca2+ which leads to the activation of calmodulin in smooth muscle and also in the phosphorylation of myosin allowing contraction. The Ca2+ - TRPM4 channel which is known to modulate Ca2+- fluxes in several cell types was shown to participate in vascular as well as detrusor muscle contraction. We thus designed a study to determine whether it also participates in myometrial contraction. Uterine rings were isolated from Trpm4+/+ and Trpm4-/- non-pregnant adult mice and contractions were recorded using an isometric force transducer. In basal conditions, spontaneous contractions were similar in both groups. Application of 9-phenanthrol, a pharmacological TRPM4 inhibitor, dose-dependently reduced contraction parameters in Trpm4+/+ rings with an IC50 around 2.10-6 mol/L. The effect of 9-phenanthrol was significantly reduced in Trpm4-/- rings. The effect of oxytocin was tested and was found to be stronger in Trpm4+/+ rings compared to Trpm4-/-. Under a constant stimulation by oxytocin, 9-phenanthrol still reduced contraction parameters in Trpm4+/+ rings with a smaller effect on Trpm4-/-. Altogether it indicates that TRPM4 participates in uterine contractions in mice and may thus be evaluated as a new target to control such contractions.

A novel high-throughput assay to produce ring-shaped 3D cardiac tissues from human induced pluripotent stem cells

Cardiac tissue engineering aims at creating contractile structures that can optimally reproduce the features of human cardiac tissue. These constructs, associated to the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, are becoming valuable tools to model some of the cardiac functions, to set preclinical platforms for drug testing, or to model cardiac pathologies. Nevertheless, the techniques used to generate engineered tissues still require expertise and produce a limited number of tissues per batch. To develop a novel assay which allows a fast, reproducible and high-throughput generation of 3D cardiac rings in a 96-well plate. A specific mold was designed to generate ring-shaped tissues around a central PEG pillar mounted on glass coverslips (Fig. 1). Cardiomyocytes derived from wild-type human iPSCs (hiPSC-CMs) were mixed with human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) and then seeded in the wells. An inhouse Matlab code was used to measure the deformation of the central pillar in time, deriving the force exerted by the tissue, and several contraction parameters. At day 14, the tissues were fixed and stained to evaluate their organization by confocal imaging. Finally, drug response of the tissues was assessed with different drugs. After seeding, the cells mix fell at the bottom of the PEG microwells and compacted around the pillars, forming 21 beating cardiac tissues per well. An iPSC-CM/fibroblast ratio of 3:1 was optimal to generate the highest number of stable tissues in time. The staining of vimentin and troponin T showed that the fibroblasts form a layer, stabilizing the iPSC-CMs which form a ring-shaped muscular fiber above. Tissue motion was monitored by real-time video-microscopy. Tissues started contracting around the pillar at D1 and their fractional shortening increased until D7, reaching a plateau at 25 ± 0.55%, that maintained up to 14 days. The average stress developed was of 1,43 ± 0,37 μN/mm2. The cardiac constructs showed a positive inotropic response to increasing extracellular calcium concentrations and isoproterenol, while verapamil induced a strong negative inotropic response. Dofetilide induced arrhythmias at low concentrations and cardiotoxic effects. We report on the development on a novel, easy-to-use, reproducible and high-throughput platform to generate cardiac tissues using hiPSC-CMs. The platform can serve for disease modeling and pharmacological testing.

Enabling the smart supply chain ecosystems: A multi-parameter decentralized model for Supply Chain 5.0

The paper presents a decentralized mechanism for multiple contract parameters agreement within a group of companies that may act as suppliers or as consumers in the process of Supply Chain Formation (SCF). The suppliers and consumers are acted by agents and each agent has an utility function which provides for different combinations of values of contract parameters a particular utility level. The agents decide on different combinations of the values for the shared parameters during the supply chain construction process. Contracts between the parties include multiple parameters, and each is working to maximize utility, based on the specified contract parameters. The SCF problem is transposed into a cluster graph in which the nodes represent clusters over the agent’s utility function variables. Agents communicate through a message exchange mechanism which provides also constraints propagation from the underlying suppliers. The proposed model enhances the current state-of-the-art for SCF by using multiple contract parameters in the process of decentralized SCF and also provides means for dealing with complementary inputs.

Use of External Uterine Electromyography Across Stage I Labor.

Highly sensitive, external uterine electromyography (EMG) measures myometrial electrical activity and is noninvasive compared with the clinical intrauterine pressure catheter. Most experimental studies have measured EMG in 30-minute epochs, limiting the utility of this instrumentation in intrapartum clinical practice. To test proof of concept, surface uterine EMG contraction activity was continuously collected throughout the first stage of labor from healthy women at term gestation with (n = 3) and without (n = 1) epidural or combined spinal-epidural analgesia for a maximal length of 11 hours and 24 minutes. EMG activity was recorded concurrently with tocodynamometer (toco) signals, using a pair of electrodes on the left and right sides of the maternal umbilicus with grounds attached to both hips of the reclining woman in labor. The preamplifier cutoff frequency settings were appropriate to monitor smooth muscle contraction in labor, with the analog high-pass filter set at 0.05 Hz and the low-pass filter at 1.50 Hz. Signals were sampled at 100 Hz, transmitted to a computer, and visualized by Chart 4.2 software. EMG data from epochs at baseline, during the pre-epidural fluid bolus and at the 60-minute post-epidural test dose, and at 3, 5, 6, and 8 cm dilatation were analyzed for burst power spectrum peak frequency (Hz), burst power spectrum amplitude (mV2 ), and burst duration (seconds). Uterine EMG contractile bursts were preceded and followed by a stable baseline and coincided with toco contractions. Movement artifacts were negligible, and large movement artifacts were easily distinguishable. The EMG bursts and toco contractions remained clearly identifiable, even when one woman without epidural analgesia stood beside the bed laboring for approximately 10 minutes. Burst spectral components fell within the expected 0.34-to-1.00 Hz range for term labor. High-quality data demonstrate that EMG instrumentation effectively and accurately measures uterine contraction parameters across the first stage of term labor.

An efficient algorithm for pricing reinsurance contract under the regime-switching model

This paper suggests a new and efficient variance reduction technique based on the Monte-Carlo simulation method for pricing the reinsurance contract in a regime-switching environment. The proposed approach extends the standard antithetic variables method to K>2 antithetic variables per replication of the Monte-Carlo simulation. Since the model under the regime-switching framework describes a market with arbitrage opportunities, a risk-neutral measure by Esscher transform is provided. Under this probability measure, the proposed estimator is unbiased for pricing the reinsurance contract and increasing K which leads to more variance reduction. Finally, the success of the introduced method is confirmed numerically, and the efficacy of contract parameters is evaluated on its price.

Transverse and longitudinal right ventricular fractional parameters derived from four-chamber cine MRI are associated with right ventricular dysfunction etiology

Studies of the usefulness of transverse right ventricular (RV) shortening are limited. We retrospectively analyzed the CMR images of 67 patients (age: 50.8 ± 19.0 years; men: 53.7%; Control: n = 20, Overloaded RV (atrial septal defect): n = 15, Constricted RV (pericarditis): n = 17, Degenerated RV (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy): n = 15) (all enrolled consecutively for each disease) in a single center. We defined RV longitudinal (fractional longitudinal change: FLC) and transverse (fractional transverse change: FTC) contraction parameters. We assessed the FTC/FLC (T/L) ratio on four-chamber cine CMR views and compared the four groups regarding the fractional parameters. FTC had a stronger correlation (R2 = 0.650; p < 0.001) with RV ejection fraction than that with FLC (R2 = 0.211; p < 0.001) in the linear regression analysis. Both FLC and FTC were significantly lower in the Degenerated RV and Constricted RV groups compared with those in the Control and Overloaded RV groups. The T/L ratio was significantly lower in the Degenerated RV group (p = 0.008), while the Overloaded RV (p = 0.986) and Constricted RV (p = 0.582) groups had preserved T/L ratios, compared with the Control group. Transverse shortening contributes to RV function more significantly compared with longitudinal contraction. Impaired T/L ratios may reflect RV myocardial degeneration. RV fractional parameters may help precisely understand RV dysfunction.

A continuous-time model of self-protection

This paper deals with an optimal linear insurance demand model, where the protection buyer can also exert a time-dynamic costly prevention effort to reduce her risk exposure. This is expressed as a stochastic control problem that consists in maximising an exponential utility of a terminal wealth. We assume that the effort reduces the intensity of the jump arrival process and interpret this as dynamic self-protection. We solve the problem by using a dynamic programming approach, and we provide a representation of the certainty equivalent of the buyer as the solution to a backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE). Using this representation, we prove that an exponential utility maximiser has an incentive to modify her effort dynamically only in the presence of a terminal reimbursement in the contract. Otherwise, the dynamic effort is actually constant, for a class of compound Poisson loss processes. If there is no terminal reimbursement, we solve the problem explicitly and identify the dynamic certainty equivalent of the protection buyer. This shows in particular that the Lévy property of the loss process is preserved under exponential utility maximisation. We also characterise the constant effort as the unique minimiser of an explicit Hamiltonian, from which we can determine the optimal effort in particular cases. Finally, after studying the dependence of the BSDE associated to the insurance buyer on the linear insurance contract parameter, we prove the existence of an optimal linear cover that is not necessarily zero or full insurance.

Mechanisms of regulation of motility of the gastrointestinal tract and the hepatobiliary system under the chronic action of nanocolloids

Modern cutting edge technologies of chemical synthesis enable the production of unique nanostructures with excess energy and high reactivity. Uncontrolled use of such materials in the food industry and pharmacology entail a risk for the development of a nanotoxicity crisis. Using the methods of tensometry, mechanokinetic analysis, biochemical methods, and bioinformatics, the current study showed that chronic (for six months) intragastrical burdening of rats with aqueous nanocolloids (AN) ZnO and TiO2 caused violations of the pacemaker-dependent mechanisms of regulation of spontaneous and neurotransmitter-induced contractions of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) smooth muscles (SMs), and transformed the contraction efficiency indices (AU, in Alexandria units). Under the same conditions, the fundamental principle of distribution of physiologically relevant differences in the numeric values of the mechanokinetic parameters of spontaneous SM contractions between different parts of GIT is violated, which can potentially cause its pathological changes. Using molecular docking, typical bonds in the interfaces of the interaction of these nanomaterials with myosin II, a component of the contractile apparatus of smooth muscle cells (SMC) were investigated. In this connection, the study addressed the question of possible competitive relations between ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles and actin molecules for binding sites on the myosin II actin-interaction interface. In addition, using biochemical methods, it was shown that chronic long-term exposure to nanocolloids causes changes in the primary active ion transport systems of cell plasma membranes, the activity of marker liver enzymes and disrupts the blood plasma lipid profile, which indicates the hepatotoxic effect of these nanocolloids.

Workplace Incentives and Organizational Learning

This paper studies learning among coworkers when incentives change. We use a simple principal-agent model to show that when workers are not fully informed on the global shape of the production function, (1) their effort choice changes over time as information is disclosed and processed and (2) changing incentives can trigger this learning process. We test this prediction using personnel data from an egg production plant in Peru. Exploiting a sudden change in the contract parameters, we find that workers learn from each other over the shape of the production function. This adjustment process is costly for the firm.

Modeling the Automating Process of the Creation, Checking and Updating Texts of Contracts

Purpose of research. Is to increase the degree of automation of contractual relations legal support of the parties as in the case of publishing activities through the development of model-algorithmic control and software for the automated creation and updating of texts of publisher-author license agreements.Methods. When analyzing the processes of automating legal activities in relation to the creation, development and updating texts of contracts, Russian and foreign technologies and software that allow automating the processes of contractual activities have been considered. Conceptual and set-theoretics models of the process of automated building texts of contracts have been proposed.Results. An original classification of tasks and ways of automating the legal activities including a list of promising information technologies have been proposed. Conceptual and set-theoretics models of the process of automated building texts of contracts have been developed; they differ in the use of a set of public acts, information resources, and expert information available as sources of information to create the necessary document in the selected subject area based on the algorithm of data verification, generation, visualization, contract updating, which provide contract creation and updating in an automated mode. An algorithmic model for automated processing of contract parameters which differs in the distribution of tasks between experts (a lawyer, a programmer) and software tools at has been developed. The main stages of the document life cycle involve creating, updating, deleting a contract, which, based on the event model, checks for updates in public acts and automatically corrects the text values of the parameter of the contract. The proposed solutions have been tested in case of a license agreement between an author of the article and the publishing house issuing Informatics and Automation journal.Conclusion. The development of model-algorithmic control and software for processing text information available from public acts, information resources provided by representatives of subject areas necessary for the automated generation, verification, and visualization of individual acts contributes to an increase in the degree of automation, reduces the time of preparation of legal documents that meet the requirements of existing public acts. Means of automating contractual activities should be built on the principle of openness, be dynamic, and also be externally controlled. The software services of the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the automation of legal activities developed within the framework of this study are available at http://legaltech.viwo.ru/.

Study on sustainable development of pharmaceutical health industry under ecological coordination.

Particularly in the post-pandemic period, where public health emergencies offer a greater risk of supply disruptions, the operational hazards of pharmaceutical supply chains are uncertain. One of the main concerns for businesses is how to handle the risk of supply disruption and take the necessary precautions to lower the chance of loss. Pharmaceutical raw material suppliers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical institutions constitute a complete three-tiered supply chain. On the basis of this, in Materials and methods part, a share contract based on buyback proceeds is created as a result, and a combination contract based on centralized decision-making and decentralized decision-making is employed to maximize the order volume of pharmaceutical supply chain participants. An out-of-stock cost pharmaceutical supply chain model is created, and a related solution is provided and measurable examples. In Results and discussion part, to confirm the accuracy of the model and algorithm, numerical examples are employed. Buyback prices and order volumes were subjected to sensitivity analysis, and discussion is had over how various parameters affect a model's performance. Due to supply disruptions, the study's findings show that there is "double sourcing" between upstream pharmaceutical raw materials and downstream major suppliers, necessitating the establishment of a supply chain with numerous standby suppliers. At the same time, modifying the contract parameters can improve the supply motivation of backup suppliers and guarantee the profitability of downstream medical institutions.

Slower Calcium Handling Balances Faster Cross-Bridge Cycling in Human MYBPC3 HCM.

The pathogenesis of MYBPC3-associated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is still unresolved. In our HCM patient cohort, a large and well-characterized population carrying the MYBPC3:c772G>A variant (p.Glu258Lys, E258K) provides the unique opportunity to study the basic mechanisms of MYBPC3-HCM with a comprehensive translational approach. We collected clinical and genetic data from 93 HCM patients carrying the MYBPC3:c772G>A variant. Functional perturbations were investigated using different biophysical techniques in left ventricular samples from 4 patients who underwent myectomy for refractory outflow obstruction, compared with samples from non-failing non-hypertrophic surgical patients and healthy donors. Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes and engineered heart tissues (EHTs) were also investigated. Haplotype analysis revealed MYBPC3:c772G>A as a founder mutation in Tuscany. In ventricular myocardium, the mutation leads to reduced cMyBP-C (cardiac myosin binding protein-C) expression, supporting haploinsufficiency as the main primary disease mechanism. Mechanical studies in single myofibrils and permeabilized muscle strips highlighted faster cross-bridge cycling, and higher energy cost of tension generation. A novel approach based on tissue clearing and advanced optical microscopy supported the idea that the sarcomere energetics dysfunction is intrinsically related with the reduction in cMyBP-C. Studies in single cardiomyocytes (native and hiPSC-derived), intact trabeculae and hiPSC-EHTs revealed prolonged action potentials, slower Ca2+ transients and preserved twitch duration, suggesting that the slower excitation-contraction coupling counterbalanced the faster sarcomere kinetics. This conclusion was strengthened by in silico simulations. HCM-related MYBPC3:c772G>A mutation invariably impairs sarcomere energetics and cross-bridge cycling. Compensatory electrophysiological changes (eg, reduced potassium channel expression) appear to preserve twitch contraction parameters, but may expose patients to greater arrhythmic propensity and disease progression. Therapeutic approaches correcting the primary sarcomeric defects may prevent secondary cardiomyocyte remodeling.

Coordination Analysis of the Recycling and Remanufacturing Closed-Loop Supply Chain Considering Consumers’ Low Carbon Preference and Government Subsidy

Guided by the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, in order to coordinate the recycling and remanufacturing closed-loop supply chain (CLSC), considering the strengthened low-carbon awareness of consumers and the high cost of carbon emission reduction(CER), realizing that the demand of remanufactured product is affected by both market price and manufacturer’s CER effort and that the manufacturer is responsible for CER, this study focuses on the hybrid recycling between the manufacturer and retailer. Based on Stackelberg game theory, it constructs the profit models for various interested parties under centralized and decentralized decision-making models to study consumer low carbon preference coefficient and government CER subsidy coefficient, in order to work out the optimal pricing strategy and the level of manufacturer’s CER effort under two decision models, and designs a cost-and-benefit-sharing contract to coordinate the supply chain. The results show that: (1) total recycling amount and total profit under CLSC are negatively correlated with recycling channel competition coefficient; (2) government CER subsidy and consumers’ low carbon preference help enhance both total profit under CLSC and the zeal of manufacturers for CER; and (3) the parameters of contracts in some circumstances contribute to alleviating the competition between manufacturer and retailer cycling channels and increasing the total recycling amount under CLSC. Meanwhile, the profit for various interested parties and total profit under CLSC, and the level of a manufacturer’s CER effort, can be simultaneously improved. Consequently, the Pareto improvement and sustainable development for the CLSC can be achieved.

Effects of ATP on Time Parameters of Contractility of Rats’ Slow and Fast Skeletal Muscles in Normal and Hypothermic Conditions

We have previously shown that hypothermia leads to an increase in the synaptic modulating effects of ATP but not of adenosine in several different animal skeletal muscles. In this paper, we studied the effect of ATP on the amplitude–time parameters of single and tetanic contractions of rats’ isolated fast (1) and slow (2) muscles at different temperatures. We found that when muscles were stimulated by the electrical field (0.1 Hz, 0.5 ms, 10 V), with a decrease in the bath temperature from 37 °C to 14 °C (3), there was an increase in the half-relaxation time of the slow muscle (m. soleus), but not of the fast muscle (m. EDL). Similar effects were observed using a carbachol-induced contraction technique, which suggests the postsynaptic (4) nature of the expansion of the contractile response of the slow muscle induced by ATP (5). To confirm the postsynaptic nature of the observed phenomenon, experiments were performed at a high calcium level (7.2 mM), in which the presynaptic effects of ATP were shown to be offset. We found that the hypercalcium condition did not significantly change the effects of ATP on the measured parameters in both muscles. To record muscle tetanic contractions, we gradually increased the frequency of electrical impulses with the increment of 2.5 Hz to achieve the fusion frequencies of 12.5 Hz for m. soleus and 17.5 Hz for m. EDL at normal temperatures. ATP (100 μM) did not change the fusion frequency for both muscles at a normal temperature but decreased this parameter for the slow muscle to 5 Hz at 14 °C without affecting that for the fast muscle. We conclude that ATP potentiates a hypothermia-induced increase in the half-relaxation time of the contraction of rats’ slow, but not fast, skeletal muscles by acting on postsynaptic P2 receptors (6).

Trade credit financing for supply chain coordination under financial challenges: a multi-leader–follower game approach

This study is designed to solve supply chain inefficiencies caused by some members' financial problems, such as capital shortages and financing restrictions in a stochastic environment. To this end, we have established a supply chain finance framework by designing two novel coordinating contracts based on trade credit financing for different problem settings. These contracts are modeled in the form of multi-leader Stackelberg games that address horizontal and vertical competition in a supply chain consisting of multiple suppliers and a financially constrained manufacturer. However, previous studies in the trade credit literature have addressed only simple vertical competition, that is, seller-buyer competition. To solve the proposed models, two algorithms were developed by combining population-based metaheuristics, the Nash-domination concept, and the Nikaido-Isoda function. The results demonstrate that the proposed supply chain finance framework can eliminate supply chain inefficiencies and make a large profit for suppliers, as well as the financially constrained manufacturer. Furthermore, the results of the contracts’ analysis showed that if the manufacturer is required to settle its payments to suppliers before the end of the period, the trade credit contract cannot coordinate the supply chain because of a lack of incentive for suppliers. However, if the manufacturer is allowed to extend its payments to the end of the period, the proposed trade credit financing contract can coordinate the supply chain. Finally, the sensitivity analysis results indicate that the worse the financial status of the manufacturer, the more bargaining power suppliers have in determining the contract parameters for more profit.

Low carbon joint strategy and coordination for a dyadic supply chain with Nash bargaining fairness

&lt;p style='text-indent:20px;'&gt;In the paper, fairness concern criterion is utilized to explore the coordination of a dyadic supply chain with a fairness-concerned retailer (acting as a newsvendor), who is committed to low carbon efforts. Two models are developed for stochastic demand disturbances in the forms of multiplicative case and additive case, respectively. Firstly, the optimal joint decision of the retailer and the supply chain are proposed in two scenarios, i.e., decentralized decision and the centralized decision. Secondly, in order to realize channel coordination, the contract of revenue sharing combined with the mechanism of low-carbon cost sharing is designed. Moreover, the influences of the retailer's fairness concern and bargaining power on the joint decision and the contract parameters are also investigated. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results and some suggestions to supply chain management are also provided. The results show that the revenue sharing contract can make the supply chain achieved coordination with the cost sharing mechanism of low-carbon efforts. Furthermore, the optimal low-carbon effort level and ordering quantity decrease in terms of fairness-concerned parameter and Nash bargaining power parameter, which increases in unit cost. However, the optimal pricing makes the opposite change.&lt;/p&gt;

Mechanisms of Modulation of Adrenergic Regulation of Spontaneous Activity Rate and Atrial Myocardial Contractility in Early Postnatal Ontogeny in Rats

We studied combined effect of the β1,2-adrenoreceptor agonist isoproterenol and the Y1,5 receptor agonist [Leu31, Pro34]neuropeptide Y on the frequency of spontaneous activity and myocardial contractility in 21- and 100-day-old rats. Isoproterenol increased the frequency of spontaneous activity and reduced the main parameters of isometric contraction of the atrial myocardium. When [Leu31, Pro34]neuropeptide Y was added, the frequency of spontaneous activity and the negative inotropic and the positive chronotropic effects of isoproterenol were reduced in 100-day-old rats. In 21-day-olds rats, a tendency to a decrease in the effect of isoproterenol was observed.

Role of adenosine triphosphate and protein kinase A in the force-frequency relationship in isolated rat cardiomyocytes

The physiological heart rate of rodents is around 4-6 Hz, although a stimulus frequency of 1 Hz is generally used in isolated cardiomyocytes to study changes in the contraction-relaxation cycle in cardiac muscle physiology and pathophysiology. Our study investigated the contraction parameters in isolated cardiomyocytes at 1, 2 and 4 Hz stimulation, and the roles of ATP and protein kinase A (PKA) in the force-frequency relationship in isolated cardiomyocytes. The contraction of the cell and intracellular Ca2+ changes were recorded simultaneously during cell stimulation by applying pulses of 6-8 V amplitude with frequencies of 1, 2 and 4 Hz. The increase in stimulus frequency caused a significant decrease in the percentage of shortening, relaxation times, slowing of the relaxation rate, and a significant increase in diastolic Ca2+ levels, but had no effect on the contraction rate and Ca2+ transients. Administration of ATP and N6-benzoyladenosine-3'-5'-cyclic monophosphate (6-BNZ-cAMP) caused an increase in contraction amplitude and speed which were proportional to the stimulus frequency but had no effect on the relaxation times. The experimental results show that the force-stimulus frequency has a negative correlation in isolated myocytes and that energy metabolism and the ?-adrenergic system may be responsible for this relationship.

Coordination of dual-channel supply chain considering differential pricing and loss-aversion based on quality control

&lt;p style='text-indent:20px;'&gt;This paper investigates the coordination of dual-channel supply chain under quality control with a loss-averse manufacturer and a loss-averse retailer. Facing various uncertain factors, supply chain members tend to show loss aversion, which makes their actual decision deviate from the optimal decision without considering loss aversion. Therefore, the loss aversion effect function is applied to characterize the loss aversion of members. Besides, under quality control, utility model is constructed under centralized decision and decentralized decision, and the optimal decisions are solved according to the principle of utility maximization. Further, by analyzing and comparing the optimal strategies of two typical decision structures, the wholesale price and the quality cost-sharing contract is designed to coordinate the dual-channel supply chain, and the contract is proved to be valid. Finally, the impacts of the parameters change on the optimal quality level and order price are presented through the sensitivity analysis. It is found that quality control strategy and loss aversion degree of supply chain members affect the setting of coordination contract parameters and utility of supply chain. Moreover, the coordination of dual-channel supply chain is conducive to improving the level of product quality and reducing the price difference between channels.&lt;/p&gt;

Effects of Microbeam Irradiation on Rodent Esophageal Smooth Muscle Contraction.

High-dose-rate radiotherapy has shown promising results with respect to normal tissue preservation. We developed an ex vivo model to study the physiological effects of experimental radiotherapy in the rodent esophageal smooth muscle. We assessed the physiological parameters of the esophageal function in ex vivo preparations of the proximal, middle, and distal segments in the organ bath. High-dose-rate synchrotron irradiation was conducted using both the microbeam irradiation (MBI) technique with peak doses greater than 200 Gy and broadbeam irradiation (BBI) with doses ranging between 3.5-4 Gy. Neither MBI nor BBI affected the function of the contractile apparatus. While peak latency and maximal force change were not affected in the BBI group, and no changes were seen in the proximal esophagus segments after MBI, a significant increase in peak latency and a decrease in maximal force change was observed in the middle and distal esophageal segments. No severe changes in physiological parameters of esophageal contraction were determined after high-dose-rate radiotherapy in our model, but our results indicate a delayed esophageal function. From the clinical perspective, the observed increase in peak latency and decreased maximal force change may indicate delayed esophageal transit.